Lost and Found
by DarkFacade-88
Summary: The story of Soul Edge winds to a close, but something lingers. In the modern world, the evil is again awakened, and a twist of fate has brought back all those who once sought it to seek it again.
1. The Last Breaths Part I

Disclaimer: No SC2 owning. Kudos to Namco.  
  
This story begins with a 3-part prologue documenting the last great battle for Soul Edge. The first part of the prologue is the battle's beginning in Ostrheinsburg Chapel, the second part is the action of the battle, and the third part is its conclusion. That's only the beginning of the story, though.  
  
PROLOGUE PART I – THE LAST BREATHS  
  
For years and years, the legendary blade of doom, Soul Edge, was sought by many warriors, each with a different reason for seeking that horrible sword. Once, they all came together to resolve the problem and fought, each his own foe, until the end of the tale that was Soul Edge. But that was only the beginning of a new story, a story about those same warriors in a time and place they didn't belong.  
  
It all began in the ruined chapel of Ostrheinsburg as Soul Edge's power grew...  
  
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A ghastly silence had descended on the world, an icy veil of pure shadow that enveloped the globe with tainted shadow, its infectious decay spreading through the air like blood poisoning water. It had not been night, but no being now could say it was not, for the sun's everlasting rays were sealed out of view by the billowing mass of blackness. The shroud was omnipresent, enveloping every corner of the world as daggers of light stabbed downward from the clouds with claps of thunder's hammer to augment their passing.  
  
Only the gurgling rumble that came from a single blade, the broad zweihander that sat lopsided in the gnarled brown fingers of an azure figure, silhouetted against the black sky and wreathed in a horrible fire. The deformed grotesquery of nature that was the form's hand and arm encircled the gargantuan weapon, covered now in rough-textured, fleshy layer which pulsed incessantly and fizzled with bolts of deep crimson. The figure took a full step forward, his greave clanking on the stony floor of the chapel and resounding ominously with the sound of metallic vibrations. Like the noise made by gritting teeth, or the shrieks of the dying, the blade moved forward as well and was pulled up off the ground, raised up at the figure's shoulder.  
  
"This worldly plague has gone on far too long," said a defiant female voice. The blood-red eyes shrouded in the darkness behind Nightmare's visor shot up to glare at the lithe ninja standing before him, striking a firm battle stance. His full voice, primarily the tone of Nightmare with barely any of the youthful energy of Siegfried still in it, began to rumble in the armored throat as he began to speak. Strangely, someone had the blatant gall to cut him off.  
  
"The plague of Nightmare, perhaps, but Soul Edge has other uses," remarked the male voice coldly, full of arrogance but stable nobility, "one of those uses being the one I have for it. Now, madame, kindly step aside so I can take what is mine."  
  
"The sword is no less yours than it his or any other's." snapped the ninja, not turning her head to see the Frenchman as he walked disdainfully by her. She growled under her breath at the foolhardy noble and his snide demeanor. She did not step aside, as he demanded, but he ignored her comment and headed towards Nightmare, slowly unsheathing his rapier. As the cool steel slid from his waist, he drew it up and aimed it at the knight...  
  
Only to be stopped by a large presence that bolted, despite its size, in his way. The Frenchman staggered, but his composure returned quickly as he braced himself and looked up at the hulking silhouette that loomed like a castle over him, snarling ferociously and holding up its jagged, menacing looking weapon. The golem's heart thumped in a constant, stern rhythm that severed any notion of calm silence on the chapel grounds. Astaroth's foot crashed onto the tiled ground, sending up a wisp of dust in its wake.  
  
"Soul Edge belongs to Ares," said the golem curtly, "not you. Move now." The words that spilled from the burly creature were so blunt and calm that it was truly frightening. He punched the staff of his ax against his open palm and looked down, his eyes narrowing at the socialite fencer.  
  
"Wrong again, monster," proclaimed another arrogant voice, but more merry in this time of woe than any other. Maxi the pirate landed expertly on the ground in front of Astaroth. He waltzed backwards, swinging his legs beneath him as if he didn't even need to touch the ground. He batted a strand of stray hair out of his eyes and steadied himself in Astaroth's burning gaze. Oddly enough, before the pirate could write off another witty comment, he was shoved aside as a strangely pale, white-haired woman strolled past him.  
  
"Hate to break up the party," Isabella Valentine murmured, "But I believe none of you can claim the evil blade. There is only one thing to be done with it, and that is destroying it."  
  
Nightmare actually took another step forward, the loud clang of metal on stone momentarily silencing the gathering warriors, but his attempt failed miserably as a cold, echoing laugh broke through the silence that had almost descended fully. Nightmare didn't turn, though Ivy looked up, a crackling fire streaming from her eyes as she saw the pallid figure perched atop the grand organ across from her.  
  
"You're all wrong. Soul Edge belonged to me before; it will belong to me again." Cervantes' gruff voice dictated to the group. He hopped down onto another level of the great pipe organ, his armored feet taking rest like a raven's claws on the structure. He twirled the glistening gun-sword, Nirvana in his hand as he peered down, his glazed over eyes focusing and blurring as he scanned the cracked, splintered horizon of the chapel and nodded grimly until another voice interrupted his pensive contemplation.  
  
"The operative word being 'before,' hellspawn." Another voice defied.  
  
Cervantes just grumbled under his ragged breaths as Sophitia Alexandra came into view. The unwavering figure, held up her shield and fixed her clear eyes on the pirate, "Your darkness has no place on this world, Nightmare. I intent to end that reign of darkness right now." Her pure gaze was only tainted by a righteous fury, which was focused on Cervantes de Leon, who returned the poison glance with his own sadistic grin.  
  
"This is no longer your burden, Sophitia." piped in a voice similar to Sophitia's.  
  
Taki narrowly resisted rolling her eyes in exasperation as Cassandra popped up like a pestering rabbit beside her sister. The Greek lowered her own shield, letting the limp arm that held it swing at her side as she looked rebelliously at her sister, who avoided making immediate eye contact with her. Sophitia turned and shot a venomous look at her sibling, "Cassandra, how did you get-"  
  
"That's not important. What is important is that Soul Edge destroyed."  
  
"I disagree," responded another young voice as its owner alighted between Cassandra and Nightmare, "Apparently I am late to this gathering, but I will still get that blade. My cause is the one that will prevail." Hong Yunsung swiveled towards Nightmare and crouched down, "Prepare to meet your death, weak one." The young man's sword spun as if it weighed only a fraction of reality, swerving like a flowery blossom in his firm grasp, to harsh for it indeed.  
  
The azure knight, by now feeling left out by all this intermingled argument, silenced all irrelevant noises with a single word.  
  
"So," Nightmare's booming vocalization halted all other voices trying to gain attention, "We have ourselves quite a congregation, do we not?" The azure knight laughed, his fiery mania embodied fully in the terrible noise that poured from his unseen face and out, filling the ears of those who listened. "If you are all done with your petty quarrels, come on and attack. I am growing bored."  
  
"You want to die?" roared Taki, crouching like a tiger ready to pounce, "I'll be more than happy to oblige!"  
  
The ninja plunged forward, her two ninja blades rending the air around her as her form shot forward at the knight. In an instant, the huge sword swung upward nimbly to block, though it was an unnecessary maneuver. The ninja was halted by the presence of Heishiro Mitsurugi in her path. Unable to alter her course so quickly in mid-air, she dodged his upturned blade and latched onto his armor with her blades, swinging with extreme agility around him and landing on his other side. She leapt up, not missing a beat, and had her swords at the mercenary's left flank.  
  
"In all honesty, I don't want to have to kill you." She said through clenched teeth.  
  
The ninja was puzzled when Mitsurugi grinned icily and nodded his head, gesturing down with it. Taki's head lowered skeptically, but her expression turned to surprise and fury when she saw the katana pressed against her own chest.  
  
"It's not up to you, ninja, it's-"  
  
He too was severed in mid-sentence by the whirring of a blade. He instinctively knew what was coming and ducked, as did Taki. The two foes each rolled in different directions as the zweihander whizzed mercilessly overhead. He sprung up and saw his enemy doing the same. Ignoring the fact that it was Nightmare who had attacked him, the mercenary scrambled forward, katana at the ready, and bashed his armored shoulder into the rising ninja.  
  
"Enough of this!" bellowed an impatient Raphael. He took his chance and also plunged forward, avoiding the fray that had sprung up, and his free hand shot out to grab at the massive wrist of Nightmare. Before the groping fingers found their mark, though, he found his own limb constricted by a metallic snake that encircled him. He looked to his side incredulously to see Isabella Valentine grasping the root of the irritating snake blade restraining his ready hand.  
  
"Fool," she said, her delicate brow furrowed, "Soul Edge must be destroyed."  
  
Raphael did not bother continuing the discourse. Already fuming, he spun on his heels and slashed his rapier around in an elegant arc. Ivy's blade recoiled from the Frenchman and whipped around as she swung it intricately in the air. The sword promptly wrapped itself around the thrusting rapier and pulled it aside, but Raphael yanked the weapon free and lunged again, sprinting gracefully toward the female, who quickly deflected another precise thrust with her swirling snake-sword.  
  
Nightmare, though, was too busy at the moment to care what was going on. He knew it was not wise to become enthralled by the wretched quarrelling of mortals. Annoyed and seething, the azure knight turned on his greave but found himself staring down the smooth length of an all-too-familiar rod. At the other end of the bo, Kilik looked amazingly composed as he held his weapon up to Nightmare's visor and growled angrily in his trembling throat.  
  
"I already defeated you once, dark one, and I can do it again."  
  
"I'm afraid that job is taken, boy." Growled a voice from above.  
  
Seconds later, Cervantes de Leon was balancing carefully on the diagonally held bo. He slid down it and jumped at Kilik, sending the boy sprawling backward. As the pirate drove his gun-sword into the earth with a deafening crunch, the boy swerved and rolled over onto his feet, flinging the staff up and clenching his sweaty fists around it. Instead of going for Cervantes, he sped agilely towards Nightmare again, dancing swiftly across the disrupted turf.  
  
This tine it was a much larger foe that blocked his path. A firm pummeling blast from the flat of Astaroth's ax felled Kilik, who crumpled to the floor, bleeding at the mouth.  
  
"Insect, Soul Edge belongs to ARES!" insisted the golem, raising his ax.  
  
His weapon did not get far before the entire bulging form was knocked backward. Nightmare, feeling now like more of a bystander to all these engagements, sidestepped easily as the immense golem recovered his footing and blocked the next onslaught with his ax. That onslaught, as the foul creation soon realized, was that of the ever annoying nunchakus of Maxi, who was currently berating him furiously.  
  
"Pick on someone your own size." Laughed the pirate, still dancing on his heels.  
  
Meanwhile, Kilik's trance was broken by another presence on the battlefield.  
  
"If Soul Edge needs an owner, it is surely me." Said the eccentric, almost absurd voice from behind the bo wielder. Kilik turned just slightly to see a gaudy looking fellow with a fluttering flag mounted on his back. Yoshimitsu ambled by Kilik and raised his own katana, probably smiling under his demonic mask. He edged forward slowly, sliding sandaled feet along the ground. He didn't get far, though.  
  
A searing hissing noise apparently beat him to the punch. The contorted form of Voldo slid right beneath a jumping Nightmare and stabbed his own body up. The twisted human ended up face to face with another mask, that of Yoshimitsu. He hissed again, more nonchalantly, but Yoshimitsu was not deterred. The ninja merely swung around and slashed at Voldo, who blocked easily with his glinting katar.  
  
"This is all foolishness," growled Yunsung, plowing past the two newest combatants and raising the light-engulfed blade of White Storm to strike, "The sword is mine and all your quarrels will not stand in my way."  
  
White Storm, gleaming like the sun as it soared through the air, glanced awkwardly off a rounded shield and fell to the side. The young man's inflamed gaze met the almost sympathetic eyes of Cassandra Alexandra as she assumed a fighting stance. To impatient with the various happening to wait, Yunsung dove at her swiftly and the newest conflict began, the two warriors battling backwards in the course of an instant, their finely crafted blades flying in their hands.  
  
Sophitia, a fearful yet pensive glint in both eyes, scanned the now raging battle plain. She couldn't even count all the warriors offhand and didn't try. Her glare turned to the dark one who stood before her, still wreathed in his horrible shadow. She stepped towards him coolly, allowing herself to flow like liquid through the vicious frays that literally moved right past her. Her face was slated and calm as she raised her short, slender sword and brought her shield up.  
  
"It appears, Nightmare, that only you an I remain." She said, her voice dripping with a frosted over pleasantry. Nightmare's helmeted head nodded solemnly. The two of them didn't waste any time and charged forward, beginning the last of the duels to start and end on that fateful day. 


	2. The Last Breaths Part II

Disclaimer: Don't own SC2. Namco does. Am I Namco? Me =/= Namco.  
  
Note: In this chap/prologue, a LOT of our heroes and villains will end up dead or gravely wounded. All I can say is, don't worry about it. Remember, this is just the prologue.  
  
PROLOGUE PART II – THE LAST BREATHS  
  
Chaos raged on the floor of the chapel. The ground shook and splintered asunder in the wake of the many battles that raged beneath crackles of lightning that inflamed the sky and set the clouds afire. A tornado of whirling darkness and shadow that spread into the lower air seeped through each slashed hole in the muddled clouds. A chorus of demonic hammers striking the anvil of earth echoed in the universe's halls as the whole world fell to the darkness and the fire. Now the many duels continued beneath the tsunami that clashed with the atmosphere above.  
  
Many lives would end this day....the end of one story neared as the heavens signaled the approach of doom.  
  
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Masks faced off through the chapel as the slender katana of Yoshimitsu bashed harshly against Voldo's resilient katana. The katars spun expertly in Voldo's thin fingers and slashed repeatedly at the ninja at random intervals, attempting in vain to disrupt his train of battle. The two of them maneuvered back and forth, Voldo always low to the ground, Yoshimitsu always above and attacking down. They spun around, circling carefully and jabbing at each other when the opportune moment came.  
  
"Miserable worm," snapped the ninja, "Can you do no more than that?"  
  
Even though Voldo's hissing reply did not constitute a response, his actions did. The "worm" wormed his way forward in the span of a second and pushed Yoshimitsu offguard. His katars flew out, slicing each of the ninja's flanks. Yoshimitsu staggered, first blood blossoming from his sides, but quickly counterattacked, only to watch in awe as his foe dodged sideways with an elegant flourish and swung his elbows right into the ninja's wounded left side. The bash was more than enough. Gravely injured, Yoshimitsu soared through the air and his body smashed ignobly into the chapel wall. His limp body, not yet dead but still in great pain, peeled slowly off the crumbling structure and bounced once on the floor before going mostly limp. The ninja's chest heaved wearily as the splintered mask on his face continued to crack.  
  
Voldo, satisfied with his handiwork, turned from the unconscious foe and slithered along towards the other end of the chapel where his only true foe fought on. His blind eyes gave off a slight glow beneath the mask over them as he made his way towards the weapon he'd spent so many years of his life searching for.  
  
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Cervantes dodged Kilik's bo as it flew about him like a stabbing bird. The pirate raised his sword and clapped them together like thunder over the staff firmly as the brutal figure grinned an ominous grin and pulled the weapon aside with his own swords and released it suddenly, letting the bow slash off wildly away from him. Kilik instinctively stabilized his grip and pulled back, but not quite fast enough.  
  
The pirate's gun-sword struck his jaw, jogging it roughly out of place and causing more blood to course over it. Another second and Kilik was staring down the barrel of Nirvana, clasped firmly and aimed carefully at Kilik's forehead. Cervantes grinned through a mouth of sharp, almost carnivorous teeth as he squeezed the trigger.  
  
Kilik's bo flew up in the nick of time, swinging around Cervantes' arm and batting it down. As the gun recoiled from the fiery blast, the shot still found an agonizing mark. The bullet, surrounded by smoke and a flaming pulse from the gun, swept through Kilik's lower rib cage and out behind him. Groaning in pain, the rod weilder collapsed in a bleeding heap. Even though his foe wasn't dead, Cervantes de Leon swept himself around and stomped briskly towards the azure knight and his enemy.  
  
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"Girl, I really don't want to do anything either of us will regret." Said Yunsung coolly, standing upright in no particular battle stance as Cassandra Alexandra charged at him.  
  
"You'll be the only one regretting anything, fool!" shot back the Greek as her short blade collided with White Storm. Yunsung flew into a lithe stance and pressed his sword against hers. The metal of both began to buckle slightly as their muscles strained. As if on cue, the two combatants pushed forward simultaneously and were sent reeling backwards, dizzy and weary.  
  
Luckily for him, Yunsung recovered first and plunged back into the fight, White Storm held aloft. Cassandra didn't raise her shield in time, but Yunsung's blow was not meant to kill. The icy metal hilt of White Storm crashed ruthlessly into the Greek's skull and she crumpled in an unconscious heap, her sword clattering onto the ground and her disc-shaped shield rolling off into the corner of the chapel. Yunsung stepped right over the still breathing form and towards Nightmare, only to find another meddlesome warrior in his way, breathing heavily. Voldo looked at Yunsung like a curious dog panting and the flame-haired Korean scowled, snorting indignantly. "Out of my way, creature," he commanded sternly. Voldo didn't budge and Yunsung, not thinking in the least, charge forward at the katar- wielding human. That would be the last foolish decision he ever made.  
  
Hong Yunsung's body crumbled like a demolished building, his arms slashed to ribbons at his sides. His awestruck face forever held a look of utter confusion as the expression blazoned on his features became permanent. Voldo, probably chuckling fiendishly to himself, bounded over the corpse towards Nightmare yet again. That was his second victory, and he planned on a prompt third.  
  
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Raphael's rapier sung its swift and merciless song as it jabbed ferociously at the Englishwoman before him. Ivy, a hardened veteran now, almost shrugged off the minor wounds he inflicted and continued batting at the arrogant fool with her snake-sword. The Ivy blade sung as well, but a harsher song it emitted as the glowing metal swiped at the air around Raphael.  
  
"Why do you oppose me, woman?" said Raphael calmly. His tranquility was infuriating for Ivy, who simply attacked more viciously, her snake-sword stabbing and jabbing, slashing and bashing, slicing through the darkness like a single searing beam of light. Raphael suddenly found himself slowly becoming outmatched as the fiery flail began to work away at the acute sharpness of his rapier as he parried. His half-closed eyes widened with horror as he was driven back.  
  
Grinning from behind her onslaught, Ivy replied sweetly.  
  
"Because you are weak...and the weak do not deserve power...or even life."  
  
With that, the Ivy Blade sung its last, grandest note. The hapless Frenchman careened backward and slid onto the floor pitifully, a great gash marring his chest and spilling crimson onto the already aged stones of the chapel floor. His eyes were still wide, but now glazed over with a shrouded veil as his face lost all color. A moment later, Raphael de Sorel breathed his final breath.  
  
Ivy's grin faded as she acknowledged the man's passing and turned.  
  
"Hello again, my child." A horrible voice spat at her as a jet of pain lanced through her. Cervantes, his eyes on fire with hate and sadistic glee, stood in front of her, laughing like a maniac. Her own eyes slowly closed as she glanced down at the two blades embedded in her flesh. A narrow river of blood seeped through her lips as she slumped in Cervantes' grasp, her dead eyes meeting those of her father. "Foolish girl." laughed Cervantes as he slid the corpse off his swords. He backed up a few paces, sharpening his red-caked swords on each other and turning towards Nightmare and Sophitia's nearby battleground, his dark smile widening.  
  
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The ax smashed into the floor yet again as Maxi sidestepped easily. It wasn't hard for the agile pirate to avoid the slow crashing attacks from that hulking golem. He waltzed around the huge figure, who tried to spin on his heels and failed miserably, grumbling loudly to himself.  
  
"C'mon, friend, you'll have to do better than that!" Chortled Maxi as he flipped over another attack which landed on the floor and sent up a prominent shockwave around its impact crater. The ax was hefted up after a momentary peace and its owner turned to the quick-footed pirate and glowered openly, pulling the great weapon back.  
  
He swung it down after an instant. Maxi, expecting the attack, made the mistake of dodging left. For one of the first times in his seven years of life, Astaroth did something intelligent. He feigned a full-power slash to the right and yanked the ax to the left, the jagged edge of it making quick contact with his foe and sending him onto the ground with a great, smoldering gash in his arm and shoulder.  
  
"Don't call me friend, friend." muttered the golem as he brought the ax down on Maxi. It gave him a twisted breed of satisfaction as he closed his blank eyes and let the gnashing sound of his blade rend flesh echo in his ears. Though the satisfaction was complete, it was short-lived, since the grotesque noise was soon replaced by an anguished cry and another, much more painful grotesque noise.  
  
Astaroth's eyes fluttered open and look down. Poking out of his heart, which was now slowing its pace, was the tip of a staff, covered in his own life fluids. He groaned, almost with annoyance, as he turned slowly to see the one who'd been his undoing. His eyes, the light fading from them, took rest upon the hunched over figure of Kilik, who was clutching his own wound and panting with both pain and misery. With a gurgling murmuring of the word "Ares," the golem called Astaroth fell backward beside his lifelong foe's body, grunting one last time as his exposed heart stopped beating, he bo of Kilik still stabbed through it. His eyes closed, the pale orbs beneath those eyelids staring up at the stormy sky with a look of no more than irritation in them as Kunpaetku's creation ceased to be.  
  
Kilik, clasping the slice through his chest, pulled himself weakly towards the mangled corpse of Maxi. His pace on the ground declined soon as he neared the limp form, tainted by an ocean of gules. As he looked at the livid face of his former companion, Kilik slumped on the floor, darkness flooding his vision.  
  
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Mitsurugi and Taki's battle lingered on, the two tireless warriors not even halting to breath as they moved nimbly, like two crackling pillars of flame battling for supremacy. They fought to a stalemate a number of times, backing up and plunging forward to equalize their perfectly measured strides in either direction. After seemingly endless conflict, the two panting combatants hung back, sizing each other up anew as they prepared to go at it yet again.  
  
"I already said I did not want to kill you, Heishiro Mitsurugi." said Taki, crouching into her nimble battle stance and raising her two ninja blades in front of her face.  
  
"And I already said; the choice is not yours to make, ninja." growled the mercenary.  
  
"Someday, mercenary, that attitude will get you killed."  
  
As if to support Taki's theory, six gleaming something suddenly poked through Mitsurugi's chest as he prepared his own retort. The mercenary looked down incredulously at the katars stabbed through his armor and the waves of his life blood that mingled with the cracks of it. His hardened gaze turned to Taki, who stood awestruck before him. His cheeks sank and his expression dimmed as he looked into his foe's bewildered eyes. Through red-soaked lips, he spoke.  
  
"I would've liked to see you dead before me." He said coolly as he fell to his knees and then forward, face first, onto the floor. Voldo stood behind him, gloating over his third victory, soon to be one of four.  
  
"Some advice:" growled Taki as Voldo looked up calmly, "Never interrupt a fight."  
  
Voldo's blind eyes didn't have time to blink before the ninja blade, RekkiMaru, shot right through his face and out the back of his skull. His foully contorting body twisted and wormed backwards, wriggling on the ground for several seconds before stiffening. Taki leaned down and yanked her sword out of the Italian's masked skull and followed her senses towards the looming shadow of Nightmare behind her.  
  
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The great, pulsing and vibrating blade of Soul Edge severed the ground without mercy and full of fiery contempt for all. The ground shook more as a fierce quake sprung up around the azure knight and is foe, who leapt above the quavering ground and brought the brunt of her shield down on Nightmare. He raised the blade, it's limpid pool of an eye focused on her, and she slid off the side of it, using her shield as leverage. The warrior was on her feet in an instant and repeatedly jabbing, but Nightmare blocked each attack with flawless panache.  
  
It was now apparent to Sophitia Alexandra that a horrible light, or a light darkness, as flowing from the cracks and slits in Nightmare's armor like water, creating a ghostly mist that had shrouded the room. The thunder above was louder and the lightning brighter and more destructive as some bolts strayed lower to the ground still. Suddenly, one great sword of light slashed the earth, singing the very stone as it passed. Then came a second an a third strike, jogging fear into Sophitia. Nightmare's crackling laugh, like a mixture of roaring hurricane winds and seething flame, could be heard above it all. Nightmare stepped forward, but the clank of his greave was replaced by another heavenly roar as the shadowy aura of sable and deep red swirling around Nightmare brightened eerily.  
  
"Weak fool," bellowed thus new voice, a resounding metallic merger of tones like a badly played chord booming a scratching the world's surface, "you cannot defeat me. You have already lost."  
  
Before Sophitia could respond, she found the searing hot claw of Nightmare shooting towards her like a bullet. Her pained cry was muffled as the huge tentacle-like fingers enveloped her. Her sword arm was restrained by the massive mandibles, but she slapped mercilessly but pointlessly at the hand with her shield, denting it several times but doing little damage as her circulation and air supply was cut off. She felt only a mild pang of relief when she heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Drop her now, demon, or meet you death." commanded Taki from behind, pressing her ninja blades against the slit in Nightmare's breastplate and poking in just to illustrate that she was serious. The knight's eyes, maelstroms of liquid flame fizzling with dead light, shot a ravenous look at the ninja as his grip only tightened, causing Sophitia to continue her struggle more incessantly.  
  
The intense moment was interrupted by a vague clapping sound nearby.  
  
"Now then, doesn't this seem familiar?" queried Cervantes jokingly, slamming his gloved fists together jovially, "Yes, I do believe it does. This is a repetition of history as I remember it, but this time you are all at a disadvantage." He stopped, pausing like a pensive orator, and continued, seeing as how his listeners were too busy to talk back anyway, "Having lived it, I have a very firm sense of history. Now, I'm going to use it to kill all of you and take that sword."  
  
"I think not, foul pirate. History does repeat itself, and the history I see for this world does not contain you."  
  
It wasn't Taki's voice, it certainly wasn't Nightmare's voice, and Sophitia couldn't be heard even if she was speaking. Cervantes turned a nearly roared with fury as he saw the newcomer standing not far behind him, smiling despite all the pain and death that had swarmed around her in the chapel.  
  
"Chai Xianghua," muttered Nightmare darkly.  
  
"Indeed." replied the woman, drawing out her shimmering broadsword and letting it glide gently in her grip, "I have come here to end the story of Soul Edge. I may not have been here to start this fight, but I most certainly will finish it."  
  
Not hesitating for an instant, Chai Xianghua sprung forward at Nightmare. The world began to spin as she flew, as it did for all the other conscious warriors. Everything was moving too fast, but that did not stop any of the souls on that field from slowing.  
  
Nightmare let Sophitia fall as he pulled Soul Edge over to parry. The Chinese broadsword struck it head on and the two staggered in place. Taki tried to take the opportunity to drive her blades home, but Nightmare's armored elbow swung around and jabbed her in the chest hard as his whole silhouette rotated and brought Soul Edge around in a high arc. The ninja dove beneath it and at Nightmare, but he parried again and latched his mighty claws onto the ninja, swinging her around and throwing her at Xianghua.  
  
As he let go of the ninja, horror plastered itself on his demonic features beneath the helmet. The pirate stood in front of him instead of Sophitia, an inferno of gleeful insanity on his immortal face. The female Soul Edge blade, held with the greatest firmness ever felt by that hilt, was jutting directly through Nightmare's stomach and peeking out through the border of his pauldrons on the other side.  
  
"Finally..." murmured the pirate grimly, "Finally...Soul Edge is mine!"  
  
A laughter greater than any other sound, even dwarfing the thunder and fire above, slammed into the sky itself as Cervantes drove the blade deeper. The aura of shadow around Nightmare actually glowed brighter, beginning to envelope Cervantes as it worked its way up his sword-arm and the jagged rays of darkness began to bounce up along his form. Color suddenly filled his eyes as his other hand grabbed Nightmare's claw roughly.  
  
His laughter turned to fury when he saw what he thought was his.  
  
Soul Edge's eye searched the area frantically for hope as it began to swell and twist madly. Taki's slim ninja blade, Sophitia's short sword, and Xianghua's broadsword were embedded in the flesh of the blade, each of the glowing trinity of weapons stabbing from a different angle. The blade began to glow so brightly that its beams became a blinding swirl of endless light and the utmost darkness as countless sounds of pain shrieked from the dying sword.  
  
Suddenly the sound stopped....and light filled the world again. 


	3. The Last Breaths Part III

Disclaimer: Me not in the owning of SC, Namco is owner, Namco owns.  
  
Note: This is the third and final installment of the prologue. After this, the story will begin in earnest. As I said, many of our favorite souls may be dead or injured, but fear not. I have all the delicious plot holes worked out in advance. Hope you enjoy.  
  
PROLOGUE PART III – THE LAST BREATHS  
  
A light, blinding and brighter and more golden than the sun, stabbed through the darkness of the clouds with an awe-inspiring aura of beauty around it. The groping darkness and thunder in the sky faded as suddenly as it had begun. The lightning and fire above just evaporated into the lowering clouds as all manner of multicolored light began shining through and the warm beams struck earth...  
  
Three blades and a fourth were locked together on earth, in the chapel of Ostrheinsburg. Soul Edge, its eye mad and wild, heaved its final terrified shriek as every single shard and fragment of its being splintered apart and erupted in a mass of jagged debris and flame that ran in rivers over the chapel. The torn apart pieces of metal burst out and sought out new hosts in the span of milliseconds, scurrying through the air to another form that could keep them as their original form melted around them...  
  
The first story of Soul Edge had ended...  
  
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Taki's heavy eyelids managed to peel open as her half-closed orbs looked up for a long moment, feeling a wave of relief as she saw the light that was slowly pushing all the darkness out of the sky. She managed to prop herself up slowly on her weak, trembling arms and looked out at the gleaming pillar of sun that shot up from the center of the chapel, a white-hot smoke whirling around the column in melodic wisps. Her eyes opened further as the light dissipated, leaving only death and decay. Though she saw the horror all around her, she knew that light had won.  
  
Where the light pillar had been lay what had survived of Nightmare, now Siegfried again. The flesh was almost gone from his cracked bones as the form, seemingly aged by months or even years, lay motionless on the floor. Only the phantom feeling of his immense claw in the shroud of a ghostly aura surrounded his hand, now human again, which still clutched the beating hilt of the destroyed sword. The formerly red eyes of the demonic azure being now were softened and closed, the limp head tilted away from the sky.  
  
Just nearby this husk was that of Cervantes de Leon, no longer immortal, no longer mortal, no longer anything. His cold dead eyes were now really dead, glazed over and staring up. His chest was shredded by the shards that had erupted forth and shot right into him, but that did not help his case for immortality. As Soul Edge died, the power of the shards in him and his mighty blade died as well. The now mortal could not stand against the icy hand of death.  
  
That hand had touched all this day. Taki stopped looking at the field of battle long enough to look down. Bloody stab wounds dappled her front and she knew instinctively what had happened. When Soul Edge burst, its shards had gone everywhere with incredible force. She probably had one or two lodged in herself, as did Cervantes, and probably many of the others to. She would have to work on removing that, but she wasn't sure if there was any way to do so short of committing gory suicide.  
  
The wounded ninja's eyes caught sight of Xianghua, also limping up and staggering to her feet. Then, her gaze passed over the whole field until they alighted upon-  
  
Sophitia lay on the ground not far from Siegfried and Cervantes. She was not motionless, but very still and breathing raggedly. Taki, ignoring the pain that lanced up and down her body, rushed over to the Greek.  
  
"Sophitia, you're going to be alright." She said immediately as she reached her fallen comrade.  
  
"I got lucky once, Taki, thanks to you. Now it is my time. Soul Edge is gone, for once and for all, and I have succeeded. This quest consumed my life, and now it may take it. My job is done..."  
  
Sophitia Alexandra's whitened eyes closed gently as the form sagged and went cold. Taki closed her eyes and bowed her head sadly, but her mourning was severed by an unexpected voice just in front of her.  
  
"She was a brave woman," crooned the voice calmly, "and it was an honor to be with her in her final hours." Yoshimitsu, dried blood clinging to his split side and the remains of his wooden arm dangling weakly at his side, stepped forward towards the two living warriors and the one dead one. He executed a very slight bow and leaned down to pick up his chipped katana.  
  
"You are alive, then?" said Xianghua, obviously knowing the answer, "Who else has survived this last battle?"  
  
Yoshimitsu gestured out at some of the figures that pockmarked the plain.  
  
"The rod wielder is gravely injured, but he is no doubt alive," he gestured over the field to the area where Maxi and Astaroth had fallen. The shaken and mourning figure of a kneeling Kilik could be seen there. It was anybody's guess as to what he was thinking, but Xianghua suspected she knew. Yoshimitsu, gesturing in the other direction, continued. "Yes, he is alive...and-"  
  
The next person he would've identified as living cut him off before he could continue. Cassandra, a muffled cry escaping her, was almost instantly at the side of her deceased sibling. Taki tried not to look at her and didn't bother speaking as Cassandra took in fully what had happened, still toying with her nearly broken jaw.  
  
"Also," droned on one-armed ninja, "We seem to have some late arrivals." He gestured to the mostly untouched area of the chapel, noting the two smaller figures who had sprung there and where heading slowly towards the casualties.  
  
Seung Mina halted for only a minute over what remained of Hong Yunsung, Xianghua couldn't tell if she had shed a tear, but she continued on over the fallen warrior and towards the body of Sophitia. Just behind her, a solemn Talim let her arms and elbow blades hang beside her as she looked out at all the lifeless husks and sighed mournfully.  
  
"The battle is over, I assume?" said Talim, "It does not truly matter. I only came here to return what must be returned." Turning from Taki and Xianghua, Talim drew the last shard, looking dead without a tinge of color or light, and threw it aimlessly onto the ground near the ruin of Nightmare. The small, soulless metal bounced twice before coming to rest beside the mangled visage of Nightmare's claw arm. Seung Mina watched incredulously, letting no emotion creep onto her face.  
  
"It is all over." said Taki, "Many warriors are dead and many may never truly live again. Soul Edge is, as Sophitia said, gone. This battle is over...As are the lives of so many...Let us each go our separate ways now, for there is nothing here for us."  
  
"Agreed," confirmed Yoshimitsu, "Our lives have all been overtaken by this quest. If I might be so bold, I suggest that we make sure all these warriors who so suffered be taken to their respective homes and honored as the heroes...or the villains that they are. I will take who I can and make it my last mission that they all make it home."  
  
"As will I." Xianghua nodded grimly, "Let us leave this death behind us here and see to it that such horrors never come to the world again."  
  
"Let us each vow that this evil shall never resurface," said Yoshimitsu, stepping forward further and still clasping the gash in his left flank, "each one of us here."  
  
"I will take that oath." said Cassandra without hesitating, her head snapping up.  
  
"And I," Taki murmured as she stood up and sheathed her ninja blades.  
  
"And I," Yoshimitsu nodded as he said those two words.  
  
"And I," Xianghua almost let a smile come through her stony features.  
  
"And I," Seung Mina said coldly, issuing out of her trance-like state.  
  
"And I," Talim said, almost defiantly, as she stepped forward.  
  
"And I," Kilik's voice said, filled with choking sobs but still firm.  
  
The seven warriors found themselves juxtaposed in a circle around the body of Sophitia now. They all looked at each other nervously for a stretching moment before they nodded curtly and each turned, going their separate ways. Somehow, they each knew that this wasn't over. Though their sadness was great, no warrior there could shake the feeling that those who had fallen had not truly fallen...  
  
And the first story of Soul Edge ended that day...  
  
But the second story had yet to begin... 


	4. Lost and Found

CHAPTER I – LOST AND FOUND  
  
Time passed, as time always does...  
  
Taki, Chai Xianghua, Cassandra Alexandra, Kilik, Talim, Seung Mina, and Yoshimitsu all kept their vows. They each took one or more of the fallen warriors to their respective homes and placed them where they knew they would want to be. Cervantes was returned to the Spanish Main, Voldo to the Money Pit, Maxi to the shores of Japan to be followed by his dear friends when they passed, and to each his own. Only the corpse of Siegfried was left, untouched forever by the warriors. He lingered in Ostrheinsburg for many a year.  
  
In time, all mortals die. All the mortal heroes who sought Soul Edge did in time, as a century passed, and soon none remained living. They were barely remembered, except by those who knew them well, but their deeds lived on in a few meager stories and tales passed on by their brethren's children and onward...  
  
But darkness and light in Soul Edge's tale lingered to. The warrior souls might all be dead and gone, but none of their stories were over yet...not by far...  
  
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Deep in the earth, buried under years of crumbling rubble, soot, and an accumulated ocean of dust, something stirred slightly. A iced over form, surrounded on all sides be incurring darkness suddenly jolted once and went rigid again as a thunderous clap slapped at it from above. It stirred within, a sudden lance of life beginning to course over it like refreshing spring water as another clap from above came down, rattling the form. Then came a second jolt, as a mild light poked through the dust and out between gray particles, sending bare sliver of white out into the pair of rustic green eyes that stared down at the dust pile.  
  
Erwin Arvechtelen, the owner of those clouded eyes, was no more than a sweat-soaked engineer on a day much hotter than rural Germany was used to. Almost the entire area around these patches of stone ruins had been industrialized, but the statuesque remains of the chapel he stood in had been left intact. Now, the small company that Erwin belonged to had finally procured a commission to dig around here for something worthwhile. They were to do that within a week and demolish the modern obstacle if they found nothing on the dig site. Erwin didn't muddle his small brain with these contemplations as he wiped a pesky bead of sweat off the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Hey boss, there's somethin' under here." roared the gruff bass voice of the engineer over the shrieking whir of metallic instruments on the excavation.  
  
Beneath the single dusty pile wedged between two fallen slabs of wall was a single metal spike poking out through the dreary gray, an armor-plated toe of gleaming azure. A faint glow twinkled in the ruin and that glint was echoed in Erwin's curious expression as he began clawing at the desired object.  
  
It had taken this long for the worming fragments inside that form to stir some life and energy into his empty, hollowed out veins. They had been working through the process each minute of the centuries that passed, trying to jog a sense and countenance into the body. Now, as the world around them was at last stirred, they could draw the sapling seeds of life from other beings, feeding the dead embers inside their long deceased host. It was finally time, when his energy could be slowly but surely replenished on a new world.  
  
"What is it, Erwin? It'd better be important! There's a lot here that must be seen to."  
  
More stirring, more voices, more energy drawn from the unsuspecting beings. The noon sunlight bore down unhappily on Erwin and his find, but the twitching, wrenching form in the debris pile did not mind. The light itself seared through his armor and restored the long lost color to his snow-white pallor. A diseased brown began mingling with the calm tan of his arm and chest.  
  
"I think you'll find this....interesting." said Erwin softly, his breath slowing and his voice volume decreasing as he waded into the smoky dust and leaned down, his light eyes blinking repeatedly as he reached his rough- skinned, scraggly fingers down and toyed with the armored toe. He shook some dust off if it slowly, clearing soot off another plate of metal and scratching encrusted dirt of the beginnings of a leg with jagged fingernails. He began clearing some of the greater layers off and shoving gathered rocks aside onto the wreckage. As a form took shape in the dust, Erwin leaned down over it for a closer look.  
  
The thing wrenched again, feeling the closeness of this life force. It was time...  
  
Erwin Arvechtelen didn't even have time to scream as the gnarled fingers crushed every bone in his body. The last sound that roared in his ears was that irritating whirring and the sickly crunch as his ribs snapped in perfect rhythm. The figure rose from the dust swiftly, uncoiling his armored legs beneath him and opening his deformed palm. The twisted corpse of the hapless German engineer clattered to the excavated chapel floor, spilling a pool's volume of blood around the feet of his murderer.  
  
Nightmare flexed the pulsing ventricles on his resurrected claw and swung it around, testing the unfelt weight. He then took a breath, his first in ages, and only felt the stinging air of decay and engineering that flooded ancient atmosphere into his demonic lungs. He knelt on one knee, the blood caressing his armor, and buried his human hand in the dust. His eyes glowing with a caustic menace, he drew out the long, broad blade that had been at his side for so long. It was not Soul Edge, since most of the original blade's fragments had been dispersed, but Nightmare's dead husk had retained enough shards to forge a new zweihander over time, not as powerful as the last but still formidable.  
  
The demonic azure knight reborn let his eyes, unused to the light of day, flit around the site of the once-chapel. His contented expression, hidden behind a dusty visor, turned to incendiary fury as he glowered at the hulking monsters of machinery. There were cranes and truck in blazing yellow with stripes of outstanding black along their beaten sides. They sat, defiling the ground where Nightmare had been slain, making a mockery of him as they moved stiffly like falling statues twisting about.  
  
"What foul knavery is this!?" the gargantuan voice, a mangled chord boomed over all the whirring. Though the scratchy sounds of metal continued, all of the workers and engineers spun in horror to see the voice's owner. Growling under his fiery breath, Nightmare hefted his zweihander onto his back expertly.  
  
Who the hell is this bum?" mumbled one of the burly engineers to another, the two of them working away at a mostly intact wall that had slammed down on the floor. It was too easy for Nightmare to hear their vulgar slurring of the fine German language. Now grinning beneath his dark visor, a few beams of darkness beginning to pour through his pauldrons and helmet, Nightmare turned to the two workers.  
  
"You want to know who I am?" he said coolly, his horrible voice suddenly jogging sense into them. The two workers pretended to look firm, utterly confused by the sudden presence of an obvious psychotic, but their legs were quivering visibly. Nightmare's eyes focused into miniscule pupils of sable that fixed on the men. "I am death, mortal fools, I am doom and pain and power and destruction. I am darkness and fire, storm and quake, lightning and thunder. But, most importantly, I am the last thing you will ever see."  
  
The zweihander, having not tasted blood in too long a time, sliced easily through the two engineers and cleaved them both in two. The writhing upper halves of each rolled backward as the legs slumped in a heap. The excavation site was instantly roused as they realized that one of their own was dead and two others had joined them. They had machinery and could've used that to their advantage, but they were too terrified by the darkness- oozing knight to move from their places.  
  
Nightmare ambled towards them; a sound that was reminiscent of a weary yawn escaped the slit of his helmet as he threw the zweihander onto his shoulder and overlooked the gaping maw of machines. His gaze wrestled momentarily with the view of each of those primitive-looking workers as he neared them.  
  
"What....W-What the hell are you?" stammered one, dropping the drill he'd been using. It was the primary cause of that whirring and the annoyance only increased as it clattered down, still vibrating, and jumped along the floor tiles without end. Of course, the sound was promptly halted when Nightmare brought his foot crashing down on the drill and his sword crashing down on the man. He swung the zweihander out of this new corpse, which also fell quickly, and slashed the blade into that outrageously yellow truck beside him. Not only was the vehicle almost sliced in half by the giant sword, but the sheer force of the weapon's mighty punch sent the truck up. The driver inside tried to escape, but only ended up caught behind a horizontal door as the truck sat, teetering at a diagonal before swiftly hitting the ground with a loud thud.  
  
The bewildered driver finally shoved the door open and scrambled up, but only found his head split open by a waiting sword grasped firmly in Nightmare's claw.  
  
The azure knight noted mentally, nodding to himself as he turned, that there had been twelve workers to begin with. Now, seven had been easily dispatched and only five remained. There was one in the seat of that monstrosity of a mechanical serpent still shifting like stone, the crane, one in a smaller car with a number of unfamiliar logos on it, and the last two just stood with their tools, gawking like slack-jawed yokels. A laugh rumbled like thunder in the demon's throat as he sprinted forward, pulling the zweihander over his head.  
  
Another fell, his arm falling not far off. He heaved an agonized groan as Nightmare's foot easily smashed in his skull. The next shot back as the flat of Nightmare's blade collided with his neck and jaw. This one slammed into the crane behind him, denting the dulled color of the side before he slid off. The next, sitting, jaw hanging, in the crane's front seat only watched as the zweihander's head, like a merciless dragon, punched through the metal door and impaled him with the door still attached.  
  
Nightmare extracted the blade with a sweeping, fluid motion and spun, watching oozing blood dance along the side of the gigantic sword. His ears caught the rasping sound of a motor starting as the last man in his compact car sped into motion and swiveled around awkwardly, trying to escape the havoc wrought by this insane creature. The azure knight only grinned beneath his helmet and headed forward. He ran up the front of the empty crane, onto its roof, his great weight blasting craters into its length, and propelled himself off the back at the car.  
  
He landed in front of the speeding automobile and whipped the zweihander sideways nimbly. The blade caught the fender of the car and cut cleanly through it, oil and rusted parts of the vehicle spilled out over the ground as the driver's seat was flung towards the waiting sword and split, as was the driver. The sundered wreck soared momentarily through the air before crashing and ricocheting on the floor before it came to rest, smoldering and smoking.  
  
Nightmare, now Nightmare again, looked out over the ruins of the chapel and the damage he'd done. The place was now covered in the stink of age, the debris of emotionless time. A shroud of neat mist had descended despite blinding sunlight above, but the deep red eyes could still see static structures marking the plain in the distance. Technology, machines, a new era had come while Nightmare slept...  
  
He intended to make this era his...  
  
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Next: Dark Revelations – The twist in time that will allow the story of Soul Edge to continue is revealed and the first of the souls reawaken. 


End file.
